ST. LOUIS, January 31, 2013—The Rev. Todd E. Kollbaum has accepted the call to serve as director of Rural and Small Town Mission for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). He will begin serving in this role April 1.

Through its Rural and Small Town Mission (RSTM) ministry unit, the LCMS provides its congregations located in rural areas and small towns with specialized resources for engaging local communities through acts of witness and mercy. Kollbaum will oversee the development of RSTM resources, leadership training and ministerial support programs, and local and regional outreach and engagement.

“I am so pleased to have Rev. Kollbaum joining us,” said the Rev. J. Barton (Bart) Day, executive director, LCMS Office of National Mission, the department in which RSTM is housed. “The ever expanding work of RSTM will be blessed through his leadership. He brings wonderful skills and parish experience to help us lift up and support the RSTM congregations across the Synod.”

Kollbaum has served as senior pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Cole Camp, Mo., since 2004. He also has served the LCMS Missouri District as chair of the district’s Rural Small Town Ministry Task Force since 2011 and as president of the Sedalia, Mo., Circuit Pastor’s Conference from 2006 to 2009.

Kollbaum earned his Master of Divinity degree at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in 2004 and his bachelor’s degree in administration and marketing at Dana College, Blair, Neb., in 1990.

Prior to attending seminary, Kollbaum held leadership roles in the health care industry – serving as a nursing home administrator for eight years in Iowa and South Dakota and then as an administrative consultant for two years to hospitals and nursing homes in Wisconsin.

The Rev. Dr. Lee Hagan, senior pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Concordia, Mo., helped lead RSTM while the search for a director was ongoing.

“As we welcome Rev. Kollbaum to our staff, I also want to thank Dr. Hagan, who tirelessly and faithfully served RSTM during the leadership search,” Day said, “We are deeply grateful to Lee for the time he has given to RSTM and will keep Lee in our prayers as he continues ministering to his flock at St. Paul’s.”

About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
The 2.3 million-member Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a mission-oriented, Bible-based, confessional Christian denomination headquartered in St. Louis. Through acts of witness and mercy, the church carries out its mission worldwide to make known the love of Jesus Christ. Learn more at www.lcms.org.